Saint Bernadette

Bernadettes parents were very poor. They lived near Lourdes, in France.

One day in 1858, while Bernadette was gathering firewood, a beautiful Lady stood in a cave before her. She was dressed in blue and white, and there were roses at her feet. She smiled at Bernadette and asked her to say the rosary with her.

Bernadette saw the Lady eighteen times. Once the Lady said, "I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in heaven."

Large crowds followed Bernadette to the grotto to say the rosary with her.

When Bernadette asked the Lady her name, the Lady looked up to heavne and said, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Her message was "Pray for sinners," She asked that a chapel be built near the grotto. Today this spot is a great shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Later, Bernadette became a nun. Her life was one of joyful suffering. She died at the age of thirty-six.

"O God, protector and lover of the humble, You bestowed upon Your servant, Bernadette, the favor of beholding the Immaculate Virgin Mary and of talking with her. Grant that we may deserve to behold You in heaven.